Eight Announced For Coveted Edinburgh Edge Award

Wednesday 8th August/...Wii Sports, Final Fantasy XII and contentious schoolboy romp Canis Canem Edit are among the games short-listed for this year's coveted EIF Edge Award at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival - the world's only true cultural games event.

Now in its fifth year, the Edinburgh Interactive Festival is 'Expanding the Creative Culture of Games'. Newly positioned to reflect video gaming's rise in popularity and influence, helping the festival celebrate the best of video gaming here and oversees will be some of the most influential names across the board in entertainment.

With eight contenders vying for the award, the panel of judges clearly have their work cut out. Their final decision for the prized award will be revealed at the end of the first full day of the annual festival, on Monday 13th August.

Alex Wiltshire, Deputy Editor of Edge, said: "Last year on Edge we played an amazing variety of games. We played with new control interfaces; we played sprawling epics; we played fun diversions; we played with family in the front room; we played with strangers online. Our nominees list reflects the diversity of experiences games can offer, and the diversity of people they can entertain."

The full shortlist of eight titles in the running for the Edge Award is: Nintendo's Bit Generation series and Wii Sports, Rockstar's Canis Canem Edit, Capcom's Dead Rising and Ôkami, Defcon by Introversion Software, Square Enix's Final Fantasy XII and last but not least Test Drive Unlimited, developed by Eden Studios and published by Atari.

The five-man judging panel is made up of Charles Cecil from Revolution Software, Martin Kenwright of Evolution Studios and Bigbig Studios, games writer and author Steven Poole, Alice Taylor, currently vice president of Digital Content at BBC Worldwide America, and the founder and CEO of Gas Powered Games, Chris Taylor.

The winner will be announced at the award ceremony, after the first day of the conference. The awards begin at 5.30pm on Monday 13th August at Edinburgh's Royal College of Physicians, in Queen Street.

Now in its fifth year, the Edinburgh Interactive Festival is 'Expanding the Creative Culture of Games'. Newly positioned to reflect video gaming's rise in popularity and influence, helping the festival celebrate the best of video gaming here and oversees will be some of the most influential names across the board in entertainment.

Elsewhere at the Edinburgh Interactive Festival, closer links to the Dare to be Digital computer games design competition will allow visitors to the festival to view some of the innovative ideas for this year's contest. The three winning teams from this year's programme, organised by the University of Abertay Dundee, will be short-listed for a new 'Ones to Watch' Bafta Award, presented at the annual Video Games Awards ceremony in London in October.

Two days of conferences, aimed primarily at the games industry and the press, run in tandem with a screening programme offering the public sneak previews of some of the hottest games and developments in the pipeline. The Screenings Programme have proved phenomenally successful with the public and industry. Tickets for the Screenings are available now for free at Gamestation's Edinburgh store. (134A PRINCES STREET, EDINBURGH, EH2 4AH)

For full details of the festival programme and events, along with details about registration and how to book, visit the Edinburgh Interactive Festival website at www.edinburghinteractivefestival.co.uk.

Ends.

For further information, please contact:

Tom Sargent

Barrington Harvey

Tel: 01462 456780

Fax: 01462 456781

Email: tom.sargent@bhpr.co.uk

About Edge

Published by Future, Edge is no conventional multiformat videogame magazine. Edge scours the globe every month for the most creative gaming visions and the most revealing news. Committed to introducing the future of gaming technology to dedicated readers, Edge reflects the excitement and creativity of its subject matter, and its intelligent and independent stance has helped make it the digest for opinion and discussion about videogames throughout the world.

About EIF07

The Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival EIEF) is managed by a committee drawn from all areas of the industry, including publishers, developers and the two industry trade bodies; The Independent Game Developers Association (TIGA) www.tiga.org and the Entertainment & Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA) www.elspa.com.